Walking it Out
by HecateA
Summary: James just got on Lily Evans' good side; he's very careful about what he shows her, though a study session may blow his cover. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **Anyways, here's ADHD James Potter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Hogwarts: **Assignment #9, Magical and Muggle Languages, Task #2: Write about having trouble understanding something

**Warnings: **NA

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**Walking it Out **

Not only was Lily spending significantly more time with James Potter, but she was enjoying it. She'd walk into the Great Hall with Alice and Marlene and look for him at the Gryffindor table—or even better, she'd come down from the Girl's Dormitory and he'd be waiting for her with his hands in his pockets. She'd save him a spot in Charms, since he was always late because McGonagall would keep him after Transfiguration to talk about whatever was going on. Sometimes, she was finding herself sitting in the bleachers during Quidditch practises, looking up from her homework to the Gryffindor players darting through the sky, and she'd actually think things like _wow, they're executing that Tuppering Maneuver he's been orchestrating really well. _She was surprising herself and somehow he was still surprising her too.

They were sitting in the library, at the table tucked between two aisles of History of Magic books that was always free. Lily was copying potions' recipes over and over again to memorize their ingredients. James was sitting next to her, staring down at an open textbook, and every now and then he reached out and squeezed her knee. He readjusted his position every so often, opened and closed his book…

As they studied, she noticed more and more tiny movements from his side of the table. Picking at his fingernails, clearing his throat, stretching more often than she imagined he had to, deep—frustrated—breaths, messing up his head, flipping through the pages back and forth…

"James?" Lily asked.

"Sorry," he muttered. He closed the book. "I'm—I'm distracting you, I'm sorry, I'll just…"

"No, no..." Lily reached out to touch his arm and press him back down. "Are you..? What's wrong?"

"I can't do it," James whispered back, shaking his head. "I just, I don't get it, it's not sinking in, it's not clicking, I don't understand, I don't…"

"Hey… hey, deep breath… What are you working on right now? Charms? Oh, Bukovsky's Formulas of Artificing… you were there for that class, right?"

"Yeah, but I just don't…" James took a deep breath and took off his glasses, rubbing at his eyes.

"We can go over these notes together," Lily offered. She touched his arm. "James, you're smart, you'll get it…"

"I'm smart, Lily, but I'm not a good student like you are," James blurted. "I'm bad at paying attention, I'm bad at sitting still, I'm bad at taking notes, I'm bad at remembering things, I'm bad at studying. I get this potion from Madam Pomfrey every morning, and it helps, but it doesn't make my brain work properly. I'm good at the things I'm good at and I'm good at the things that I understand and get right away. Not… I'm not smart enough to do this."

"Okay." Lily closed her own books and gathered her slips of paper, which she slipped into her bag with less care than she usually would. She got up. "Okay, well, if sitting still and studying doesn't work, let's try something else."

James looked at her in disbelief.

"Yeah," Lily nodded. "It's nice outside, we wouldn't even need cloaks to walk around the grounds… we can talk over the Formulas outside. It might help to be doing something, or to be doing something different."

He continued staring at her.

"James?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." He had no idea how to explain this, he always got so stupid around Lily and ended up blurting. "You… umm… You're just the most brilliant person I know and you look so peaceful when you're sitting by the fireplace reading and you make all these faces when you learn things or they surprise you or something gushy in a romance novel happens… and you work so hard, and you… I'm not like that and I… I didn't want you to know."

Lily nodded. Then she reached out and took James' hand.

"Well, I know now," she told him, making sure to meet his eyes. "And I wouldn't mind taking a walk either."

She swung her bag on her shoulders and started gathering James' things and slipping them in his bag too. Except for his notes; she held onto them. James' handwriting was messy as all hell, but she knew the material well enough for it not to matter.

He was still looking at her in disbelief. She dropped the bag on James' knees.

"Let's go," she smiled.

He got up but held onto her hand.

Lily let him.

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**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC (x2); Fall Leaves; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Truth); Themes & Things B (Joy); Theme & Things E (Quill/pen); Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **746

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_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **James Potter/Lily Evans (Patronus Pair)

**List (Prompt): **Fall Big List (Studying)


End file.
